


Below

by literature_and_ocean_waves



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: haven't written for this fandom in a LONG time, i dont really care one way or another, you can view this as sebaciel if you want
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23706715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literature_and_ocean_waves/pseuds/literature_and_ocean_waves
Summary: "I accept these terms. I was always ready to end my life in Sebastian's jaws. A deal is a deal. But he was the one who brought this possibility to me. I have to at least try."
Kudos: 1





	1. Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Always loved the idea of demon! Ciel. Even if season 2 did a shit job with writing it. Figured that I would play with a possible epilogue for the manga.

At first, there was only the sensation of nothingness.

Ciel gripped Sebastian's waistcoat, holding on tight. His eyes were squeezed shut and could detect neither light nor darkness. Just the vaguest impression of falling and perhaps a bit of wind whistling past his ears.

Then, after both an instant and an eternity, it was over and Sebastian was still and upright, standing on something very much solid. He put a warm hand on Ciel's hair.

"You can open your eyes now, little master," he said. "We are here."

Ciel blinked slowly. Then he just stared.

He had attempted not to have any notions about where it was they were going. Fire and brimstone licked at his thoughts like hungry wolves but he tried to ignore them. Still. Even in his wildest dreams he was not expecting this.

They seemed to be standing in an immense chamber of intricately carved marble. All around him were seats, like an amphitheater. Ciel had never been to the ancient ruins in Greece, but he imagined that they had looked much like this when they were newly constructed.

At the center of the space was some kind of bench of black stone. Such as one might find in a court room. Before it, the floor had a large circle drawn on it with abstract symbols. Like the summoning circle from That Day, only smaller and much more detailed.

Ciel looked to the circle back to the bench and then startled slightly. There was a man sitting there now, dressed in the dark robes of a judge. He looked to be in his fifties, with a portly body, short grey beard, and serious expression. But here was a gentleness in his eyes.

"Come forward, human," he said, voice low and gravelly like a bullfrog. His tone was firm but not unkind. "Step into the Circle."

This easily may have been some kind of trap, but there did not seem to be many other options. Ciel walked forward, willing his legs not to tremble. He stood in the center and looked up at the bench.

"Very good," the man said. "I am called Adrammelech. Tell me your name, child."

Ciel paused for a moment. "I... I'm not sure I have one," he said. "There was the one my parents gave me when I was born. But it burned away when I made my Contract. And there is the name I stole to help claim my vengeance. But Sebastian doesn't use it and calls me young master."

Adrammelech nodded. "Well said, human. What do you call yourself then, in your mind?"

"I suppose Ciel. It's what I was most used to. And I don't mind it. Even if the true owner of that name took it back."

"Then that is, for now, what we will call you. Speak your name for the Court."

"Ciel Vincent Phantomhive."

At once, the Circle began to glow with an unearthly white light and Ciel found himself standing perfectly straight and unmoving, his feet seemingly glued to the floor.

"Excellent," said Adrammelech. "Now in order for this process to begin, there is a ritual that must be completed. Tell me a Truth."

Ciel blinked. "A truth, sir?"

"Yes," Adrammelech replied. "A Truth. Something that you know to be absolutely True no matter what. Even a simple fact from your world will do."

Ciel considered the request. "If you toss an apple into the air," he said. "it will fall back down due to gravity."

The Circled thrummed purple and Adrammelech nodded.

"Correct," he said. "Now tell me a Lie. Something you know to absolutely not true."

Ciel opened his mouth, ready to say the words "All pigs can fly." But he had barely gotten out the first few syllables when his tongue began to burn like acid. He choked and gagged, head twisting as the rest of him remained unwillingly still and the Circle glowed an angry, threatening red.

Adrammelech nodded once more, this time in sympathy. "Don't worry. The symptoms will stop after a moment. Just breathe."

Ciel did as he was told and sure enough the burning vanished, quick as it had come.

"Within the Circle, you cannot Lie," Adrammelech explained. "Not even to yourself. You may have as much time as you like to answer a question and think about what to say, but the words that fall from your lips must be of the utmost truth. Do you understand these conditions, boy?"

Ciel nodded weakly. "Yes."

"Then this trial shall now commence," said Adrammelech. "The Court recognizes Ciel Vincent Phantomhive, a human child who summoned one of our own to assist in his revenge against those who murdered his family. That revenge has now been completed and had this been any other situation, Ciel's soul would have been devoured already by the demon, Malphas, who has since answered to the name Sebastian Michaelis. Is this true, Ciel?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. But Malphas no longer wishes to eat Ciel's soul. Instead he recognizes his former master's potential and wishes to make him one of us. You were informed of this too, Ciel?"

"Yes, sir."

"As expected. You would not have been able to arrive here if you were unprepared for the intentions." Adrammelech spoke as if addressing a crowd despite there being no one else in the chamber besides himself, Ciel, and Sebastian. Yet Ciel had the suspension that there were many eyes upon him now, watching and waiting.

"Becoming a demon is not an easy task Ciel," he continued. "Even if you pass this trial, your soul will undergo a powerful and painful Metamorphosis that not everyone survives, burning away your humanity until it becomes the indestructible essence of a devil. Your body will transform into something entirely new and eventually you will have no body at all. Forms will shift and change for you as much as taking clothes on and off. Do you accept these terms to their fullest power? You could still just return to Malphas and he deliver you a painless death."

Ciel steeled his jaw. "I accept these terms. I was always ready to end my life in Sebastian's jaws. A deal is a deal. But he was the one who brought this possibility to me. I have to at least try."

"And why do you want to be a demon, Ciel? It obviously isn't to escape your Contract or any pain it may bring. Being a demon is a life of hunting souls and avoiding being hunted by angels and reapers. It is messy and it is hard. Existence as an endless chess game. What would a nobleman possibly want with that?"

A sly grin wiggled across Ciel's mouth.  
"Because you just described paradise to me, sir."

Adrammelech arched an eyebrow.  
"Explain."

"For nearly four years, I have spent my time in an elaborate and deadly dance, trying to hunt down the monsters who buchered my family. The day I summoned Sebastian, I could have taken the easy way out. I could have had him use his powers to find them for me. But I didn't. Because that's not what I wanted. I wanted him to be my sword and fight for me, but I was the one deciding all the moves he made. And it worked. After a long time and many adventures, we finally did it. We got them. And I got to put a bullet in their heads myself."

"But why was that so enjoyable for you? Simply because it was revenge?"

"No, because I became someone strong enough to earn that revenge." Ciel looked up, staring hard into Adrammelech's eyes. "I spent the first decade of my life living in my brother's shadow. I was always the weaker twin. I didn't know what I could possibly do on my own. But when he was gone, I learned. All my shrewdness and careful plotting and distrust blossomed into something that was all my own. Was I strong and healthy and charismatic, like him? No. Was I even a nice person? No. But I was me. A me that was better and more resilient in every way possible than the me that came before. And it didn't matter that I wasn't kind or charming or any of the things he thought I should have been. I was me and I won. I survived. I caught our parents' killer. He can't ever take that away."

Adrammelech sit his chin on his fingertips, thinking. "So you got what you wanted and more. That still doesn't mean you should be one of us."

"On the contrary, sir," Ciel rebuttaled. "It does indeed. Even if my ability to be cunning was always a part of me, Sebastian was the one who brought it out of me in full. He helped it develop. My personality and skills bloomed only because a demon was the one there for me to model after. A human being, no matter how cruel, would not have been able to get the same results."

Adrammelech stroked his beard. "I'll admit," he said. "You are certainly different than most humans I've encountered. Even ones who have gone through this trial." He paused momentarily. "But even with how much you are like us, why should we let you join?"

"Because demons are not wasteful. And you need me."

Adrammelech seemed legitimately stunned. "What?"

"You heard me," Ciel said, shoving down his fears. "My knowledge of your people is limited, I'll admit. I didn't even know Sebastian's real name until today. But there are a few things that I know for absolute certain based on my own experiences."

"And what might those be?"

"I know that demons are treated as filth by the other supernatural agencies, despite how powerful they are. I know that if given the chance, reapers and angels would gladly wipe out the demonic people because they feed on the souls of humans. And I know that as much as demons compete with one another, their real desire is to get rid of the threat of extinction that is constantly hanging over their heads." Ciel smirked cruelly. "And I can help with that."

Adrammelech glared. "A human, one not even old enough to join the ranks of manhood, presumes that he knows how to solve a problem that plagued our people since the Fall. Never have I seen such arrogance, not even in the Pride Circles."

"Oh I wouldn't presume to know how to solve the problem immediately, sir," Ciel replied smoothly. "It would take lifetimes for me to even come close. But that's what a demon has: endless time. Even if I were to only be a lowly solider in the final battle against Heaven, it is still one more than you would have had before. Demons understand strategy more than any other creatures in existence. And strategically it makes sense for me to at least try to join your ranks. Am I wrong, sir?"

Adrammelech was quiet for a long time, and Ciel began to wonder if perhaps he had made the wrong gamble. But then Adrammelech started to laugh, a deep and booming sound.

"Oh in all my years of doing this work, I've never met one like you, boy," he said, wiping away mirthful tears from his eyes. "Only a human could be so arrogant and bold to speak in such a way." He grinned. "And yet also be completely right."

Ciel's heart seemed to leap from his chest. "Then... did I pass the trial?"

Adrammelech nodded, smiling. "Yes. You have. But as per our people's custom, I am required to ask you one additional set of questions while you are still in the Circle."

"Alright," Ciel replied. At least the worst of it was over. "What is the question?"

"For any human to come here, it must be because a demon made a request for it. Most often it is when the demon observes a human, whether their prey or otherwise, and they recognize them to have traits that would be useful in our community. If the human is approved, then that demon becomes their caregiver, instructing the former human on how to be one of us. My question for you, Ciel, is this: what is Malphas, the one you call Sebastian, to you? Could any demon have done for you what he did?"

Ciel's whole body gave a little involuntary shiver despite its magical restraints. The other questions had been easy, a logical and analytical argument. But this... This demanded answers to things he hadn't even wanted to examine himself.

"Take as much time as you need," Adrammelech said. "But remember that no matter what you must tell the Truth."

Ciel wanted to look away, to at least hide his gaze, but he couldn't move. "No," he said after a time. "I don't think that anyone could have done what Sebastian did for me."

"And why is that?"

Here we go.  
"Because of who Sebastian is a person. I don't mean the butler act. I mean the man he could be when it was just us. The one who loves cats and pranks and who would banter flawlessly with me. I don't know any other demons but I can imagine that they are as unique and different as people. Anyone other than Sebastian would not have been able to play our game like he did and enjoy it." Ciel's voice cracked like an egg and his face flushed. "I would not have been able to... bond with anyone else."

Adrammelech's expression was soft.  
"And is that bond the real and true reason you wanted to join us?"

"Yes. I wanted to be with him forever."

"Why?"

"Because I..." Ciel trailed off, the words refusing to come.

"You must finish your Truth, boy."

"Because I love him." The words fell from his mouth like blood from an open wound. "He is the best and only friend I have ever had. I would have been happy for him to eat me, knowing I got such a short, but wonderful, time with him. But instead I get eternity? Even if I weren't selfish I could never pass that up."

Ciel expected Adrammelech to laugh. Or at least for Sebastian to, from his position behind them. But they didn't. Instead Adrammelech smiled, warmer and more genuine than Ciel had ever gotten from any human.

"You are very brave to admit something so close to your heart," he said. "We need that kind of courage in our ranks." He gave his hand a little twist and the magic of the Circle vanished. Ciel fell to his knees, like a puppet with its strings cut. Then strong arms were around him and he looked up to see Sebastian smiling down at him. Ciel, turned away, his face burning with shame.

"Ciel," Adrammelech said. "I'm sure that you already know this from your time with Malphas, but demons as a species cannot Lie. We can trick and deceive and withhold information, but we cannot Lie. And especially not to our own kind." He smiled. "Which is why, before we move onto the next stage of this process, I am asking Malphas to tell me his Truth. What is this boy to you?"

Ciel jerked his head up, but Sebastian did not seem suprised at all by the question. Rather, like he had expected as much.

"Ciel Phantomhive," he said. "the boy I have in my arms, is the most brilliant and cunning human I have ever met. Even more so than a few demons I know. I hated him when we first met. He was a spoiled brat and I loathed not getting the easy meal I expected. But after a time I came to love our game. More than any I had ever played before and more than the wild abandon nature of a demon I kept locked away." Sebastian moved a lock of hair out of Ciel's eyes, smiling cheekily at his floored expression. "He is still a spoiled brat but he is also the ideal candidate to join us. And the very best friend I have ever had. Eating him would have given me less than I have now."

Ciel felt as though he may faint, swooning like some damsel on the cover of those ridiculous romance novels Lizzie liked. Then, as if his arms had a mind of their own, he was hugging Sebastian as tight as he could, body wrecked with tremors.

Sebastian did laugh at him then, but it wasn't a cruel sound. Just one full of joy.  
He stood up, Ciel held against his shoulder. "Well, Lord Adrammelech," he said. "Shall we be on our way?"

"Yes." Adrammelech led them off to the side of the room and suddenly there was a door. He pulled it open and Sebastian stepped through, Ciel not having any care at all as to where they ended up.

Fin


	2. Metamorphosis

The room was much less grand and much more crowded than the previous one. Dozens of demons, of all shapes and sizes, mingled against the stark rocky background, speaking in low conversation to one another.

And on second glance room wasn't the right word to use at all. Cliff was better. With a smoky smelling fog obscuring anything past the edges.

Ciel took a moment to get a good look at the demonic crowd. None of them were even attempting to try and look human. Why would they? This was their home territory. Many looked like a chimeras, with parts of different animals and even plants put together in unique combinations. Others seemed to take on a living form of their Sin of choice. One looked like a muscular humanoid bull, ready to fight. A few, who Ciel could only guess were succubi, looked much like the busty women in the magazines Bard was so fond of. Only with goat horns growing from their foreheads. And another was just a floating ball of dark energy that gave off the general feeling of anxiety.

Up until today, Ciel had only ever met one demon in person and that was the one currently holding him in his arms. Ciel turned to Sebastian. The butler facade was gone. Replacing it was the form he had worn the day of the Contract. Or the more humanoid one anyway. Demon forms were naturally fluid and Ciel doubted that a pulsating mass of inky flesh and eyes would be very effective at moving from place to place.

Instead, Sebastian wore a form that was human in shape, but with a few added details like fangs, crow wings, and a set of horns twisting behind his head like a ram. He was also wearing those ridiculous boots that made him look like a hooker and a leather corset across his chest to match. Even that trampy Reaper, Grell, would have been scandalized by the outfit.

Ciel turned away and looked instead at their guide. Adrammelech had changed too. His body was covered in thick, coarse hairs and he had large tusks near a porcine snout. The whole image seemed to suggest a wild boar or an African warthog. But despite his fierce appearance, his expression reminded kind. Ciel found that surprisingly comforting.

Adrammelech put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. At once, the other demons' conversations ended and they turned to face him, still and quiet in respect.

"Brothers. Sisters. And children of Hell who are neither. Welcome." he said. A tiny fire appeared at the tips of his fingers and he flicked it down towards the ground. The flames hit the rocky floor and then grew bright, spreading across in patterns and changing colors until a Summoning Circle was visible, a deep cobalt blue shining against the blood colored stone.

Adrammelech looked at Ciel.  
"Step forward, little one" he said. "But do not yet touch the Circle."

Ciel did as he was told, aware of the many curious eyes upon him.

Adrammelech spoke.  
"You, Ciel Vincent Phantomhive, wish to become one of us. A demon for all eternity. Is this true?"

"Yes."

"And though you have passed the Trial of Truth, you may not necessarily pass the Trial of Body and Soul." He gestured to the glowing Circle. "Not every human who wishes to join us survives this. You must face all of the life that you had before, challenging every doubt you ever had. And even if you succeed there, your will must be strong enough to undergo the agony of Metamorphosis. Do you understand these terms and still wish to proceed?"

There was no hesitation.  
"I do."

Adrammelech looked at Sebastian.  
"And do you, Malphas, son of Asmodeus and Lilith, Prince of the Circle of Lust, understand that if this boy does not survive the process, then his soul shall be granted to you and devoured?"

Sebastian nodded.  
"I do."

"Then let it be known to the witnesses here that both the human, Ciel Phantomhive, and the demon, Malphas, have agreed to the conditions of this Transformation. Do the witnesses recognize their authorization?"

"We do." The crowd of demons replied in unison.

"Then we shall Begin. Ciel Phantomhive, step into the Circle."

Ciel took a deep breath, looked at Sebastian for what he hoped was not the last time, and crossed into the Summoning Circle. As soon as his feet reached the middle, he could feel the magic close around him like a door, locking him in place.

Adrammelech opened his palm and another small flame appeared. This one he tossed high into the air. The crowd of demons did the same, the flames melding together until it was enormous. Then a final flame was added, this one coming from behind Ciel and he knew instantly that it had come from Sebastian. His flame hit the larger one and the whole thing strunk down, like a star collapsing in on itself. The result was a bright and shining light, small as a fist and flickering with great power.

The light fell down towards the Circle and Ciel held his proud little head up, ready to meet it.

It hit him square in the heart, his Cinematic Record blossoming from his chest like a rare flower, and Ciel knew no more.

\--------

Ciel awoke to find himself in what looked like a hallway in the mansion, doors lining the walls. But there was no sound and he couldn't seem to see an exit. Somehow he knew that if he ran down this hallway, it would have no end.

Ciel knocked on the first door to his right. No answer. He slowly turned the knob and took a step inside. What he saw nearly tore the breath from his chest.

He was standing in the middle of a circus. The performers jumped and danced all around him, grinning and laughing to the audience. Crowds cheered in the stands, though Ciel could not seem to focus enough on their faces to make out details.

Everything was lively and full of great whimsy and joy.

"Why, Smile?" a voice said near his ear. "Why did you kill us?"

Ciel jerked his head around. Standing beside him, juggling brightly colored balls in the air, was Joker.

Ciel jumped back, as if hit by an electric shock, and a pair of strong hands lifted him up by the shoulders.

"Why did you do it, Smile?" asked Jumbo, solemn and wise as he had been in life. "We only ever wanted to be free."

He tossed Ciel into the air like he weighed nothing at all. Ciel landed on a trapeze high above the ground.

"Why, Smile?" said Peter and Wendy in unison, sailing by on their own trapeze. "We made a home for ourselves and even offered you a place in it. And you took it all away."

They took hold of Ciel's arms and shoved him from the trapeze, sending him sailing. A hand grabbed his own, pulling him onto the tightrope. Doll danced with him, expression unreadable but tears silently flowing from her one good eye.

"We could have been a family," she whispered. "We would have loved you as our own."

She let go of his hand and Ciel was falling, falling until he landed on something soft. He looked down and saw that he was lying in a net, Beast and Dagger standing above him.

"Why did you hate us so?" asked Dagger. "We had never done a thing to you." He put his head against Beast's shoulder and she pet his hair gently as she would one of her wildcats.

"Who were you to decide that seven children from the streets should die, Nobleman?" she said, voice like steel and just as unforgiving.

Joker stepped forward, standing at Beast's side.  
"Tell us why, Smile." he said. "Tell us."

"Tell us." repeated Beast and Dagger.

"Tell us."  
Jumbo loomed over.

"Tell us."  
Peter and Wendy landed beside them.

"Tell us."  
Doll stepped graceful down.

"Tell us."  
"Tell us."  
"Tell us."

Ciel covered his ears with his hands, trying drown out their chanting, which seemed to fill the tent like rising water. He wanted to run and scream and never look back. He was about to squeeze his eyes shut, to escape their wretchedly blank stares. But then he saw something.

At the edge of the tent, just near the audience, was a man. A man sitting in a wheelchair, much of his face covered in grotesque bandages like mummy. He caught Ciel's gaze and held it, smiling a disgusting smile that was both worshipful and poisonous.

Baron Kelvin.

Rage bloomed in Ciel's chest like a match tossed into a tank of gasoline.

"No." he said.

The circus troop continued to chant.

"No." he said again, louder this time and silencing them as he got to his feet. "No. I didn't kill you. You killed yourselves the moment you agreed to be part of your Father's plans."

Joker moved a little closer to him. "We had no choice, Smile."

Ciel growled, a low and inhuman sound deep in his throat.

"Bullshit!" he shouted. "You had a choice from the very beginning! You saw him going mad and yet you did nothing to stop it! Worse you were willing to sacrifice the lives of dozens of innocent children simply because you were too cowardly to say no!"

"That's not true!" Doll cried. Her blank expression was gone, replaced by anger and resentment. Her tears melted away her makeup, revealing the freckles below. "Father saved us from a life in the gutter! And all our little brothers and sisters!"

"But did you ever return to those brothers and sisters? Check in to make sure they were doing alright?" Ciel snarled. "No! You didn't! Even when Kelvin started to go mad, you didn't even try to protect the ones who mattered to you most of all! By going along with his insanity, their blood is on your hands! And so is the blood of the children you stole!"

Ciel looked Joker right in the eye.  
"I would have protected those children at your Work House. Just like I wanted to protect the children you killed. I'm not the murderer here. You are. You murdered them and your brothers and sisters with your cowardice."

Joker and the others gave a great, horrible scream and then they vanished, as did the circus. Ciel found himself standing in front of the door he came in. He turned the knob and he was back in the hallway from before. As he shut the door behind him, it disappeared leaving nothing but wall and a small painting of a tiger.

Ciel moved on to the next door.

\-----

Ciel of course could not see what was happening to his body, trapped as he was in his mind.

But if he could have, here is what he might have seen.

His body lay flat on its back and hovered several feet in the air above the Circle. His Cinematic Record danced around him like ribbons, the demons watching it in a mixture of awe and hunger.

As the Record played, flames licked at certain sections. They seemed to be trying to burn it away. But the Record was strong. It fought against the flames and then, when they were but tiny embers, sucked them inside. These sections then glowed with something otherworldly. A great Change occuring. And these Changed sections would wrap around his body like flaming scarves, waiting for the rest of the Transformation to begin.

\------

Ciel opened the door and wasn't surprised at what he saw.

Madame Red sat in her favorite chair in the townhouse salon, sipping tea, a game of chess on the table in front of her.

Ciel sat down across from her but made no move to touch the tea or chess pieces.

"You didn't have to do it, you know," she said, moving a pawn.

Ciel ignored it. "What?" he said. "Kill you?"

She nodded. "Yes." She moved another piece, apparently taking his lack of moves as skipping a turn.

"I didn't kill you," he said. "Grell did."

"But you would have, wouldn't you? If she hadn't?"

Ciel nodded. "Yes."

"Your own aunt. A fine demon you'll make indeed."

Ciel bristled.  
"Demons don't kill their relatives. People do. And I wouldn't have killed you because you were my aunt. I would have done it because you murdered nearly half a dozen innocent women and had no plans to stop."

Tears flowed from Madame Red's eyes. Now Ciel knew for sure this wasn't real: Aunt Angelina never cried.

"You don't understand," she whispered. "They had everything I wanted. And they just... threw it all away."

Ciel began to laugh, a cold and slightly manic sound.  
Madame Red looked up in suprise.

"Everything?" Ciel said. "Everything? These women were prostitutes in the poorest neighborhood in London, just trying to survive from one day to the next. Many of them had no families and had come to this country alone. They had nothing."

He smiled cruelly at her.  
"But you, Madame Red? You were a doctor from a noble family. You had everything. Wealth. Power. Status. You weren't struggling every day just to make sure there was bread on the table."

Madame Red growled, her face turning as bright as her hair.  
"I was a widow who lost her husband and unborn child in a carriage accident. My uterus was gone. I could never have a family. And yet they could."

"You did have a family." Ciel countered. "Even after my parents died. You had me and Lizzie. And you could have remarried if you wanted. Or adopted a child. There were hundreds of children on the London streets in need of homes. I should know. I killed seven of them."

Ciel stood up and stared down Madame Red.  
"You had endless possibilities to get what you wanted. And yet you decided to kill a group of women who were just trying to make one of the few decisions they could about their own bodies. I don't regret your death. As far as I'm concerned, you had it coming."

Madame Red screamed and vanished and her door reappeared. Ciel opened it and stepped into the hallway, which seemed much smaller now. Less endless.

He opened the next door.

\------

Over half of the Record was was gone now. Replaced by the glowing, dancing tendrils of the Damned.

They glowed blue with power, waiting.

\-------

The next room led to the living room at the mansion.

His parents were sitting on the sofa and reading, a lively fire dancing in the hearth.

Ciel took a seat in the armchair. It hurt to see them like this, a deep ache in his heart. But he ignored it. This wasn't real and he had a job to do.

They were quiet, just smiling lightly as if this were another peaceful Sunday evening together.  
Finally Ciel couldn't stand it anymore.

"Don't you have something you want to say to me?" he asked.

His father put down his novel and placed his hand on Ciel's head. Ciel tried not to flinch.

"We are just happy to see you, son," Vincent Phantomhive replied.

Something panged in Ciel's chest.  
"No you're not," he said.

Vincent blinked.  
"What do you mean? Of course we are."

"No." Ciel said. "You're happy to see my face. You're not happy to see me. You never were."

Rachel knelt at his side.  
"Don't you love us, dear? You got revenge on our killer for us."

"No." Ciel said again. "I got revenge for me. Not even for your deaths. But for the humiliation I suffered."  
He squared his shoulders.  
"You never loved me because you never wanted to get to know me. Ciel was a good son to be proud of. I was just the spare. I know because I never got to know me either. Not until I met Sebastian. You never loved me because I was invisible to you."

His parents didn't scream when they vanished. Somehow that made it worse.

\-----

The fiery tendrils nearly covered Ciel's body now. They were merging into one, melting into a cocoon made from the ashes of a dead life.

\-----

There was only one door left now. And Ciel knew who would be behind it. His hand trembled as he turned the knob.

He stepped into his childhood bedroom, his twin sitting on the floor and playing with wooden toys.

He looked up and smiled. "Hello, little brother."

"Hello, Ciel."

"Come to play one last time?"

"No." He closed the door. "And it wouldn't be a last, it would be a first."

His twin smiled, sugar sweet and laced with arsenic.  
"You're silly, brother. Of course we played together. Every day since we were little."

"No." Ciel said. "You played. And you ordered me to join in on whatever game you designed. Only so you had someone to fill the roles you needed."

His brother shrugged, unbothered by the accusation. "You had fun anyway. And you wouldn't have been any good at making up our games."

Ciel's expression darkened.  
"See that's the problem right there. You never let me try. Because I was younger and had a fragile health, you and everyone else just assumed that I couldn't do things. And you loved it. Because it meant that no matter what you were the king, the one everyone wanted."

His brother stood up so that they were nose to nose, identical right down to the very cells.  
"So what if I did? You still went along with it too. You could have fought back. But you never did. What does that make you in all this? Just a coward."

"A coward maybe. But a coward who won." Ciel stood up straight and he realized that he actually was taller than his brother now. "I was always the smarter one. I beat you and father at chess and I beat you both at life. I used a demon to hunt down our parents' killer. I cleaned up the underworld. I was a better guard dog than any Phantomhive before me because I knew all along that I was no hero. I've known who I was since the moment I got away from you."

He lifted up his eye patch, revealing the Seal below. His twin leaped backwards, like he had burned.

"This marks me forever as someone different than you, in body, mind, and soul. For all time, this is me. The Phantomhive twin who won."

His brother shattered like the mirror image he had always been and Ciel opened the door.

\-----

The Record was gone.

The cocoon wrapped itself around Ciel completely, pulsating steadily.

A heartbeat in a fiery womb.

The Metamorphosis began.

Like watching a sped up film of a flower growing, Ciel's body twisted and writhed from inside the cocoon.  
The demons below couldn't see the specifics, but they could feel the changes nonetheless.  
Incisors lengthening, feathers forming, horns growing.

Then suddenly, the cocoon began to crack.  
A tiny pale hand, nails black as night and sharp as daggers, burst out.  
Pieces of chrysalis began to cascade to the ground like plaster.  
Wings spread wide and tore apart what was left .  
The newborn demon fell into the arms of his people.

\------

Ciel was lying against something smooth and cool.  
His body felt wrung out and exhausted, like he had been sprinting for hours on end.  
His head hurt terribly.

Slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes.

The sight before him wasn't very glamourous. Just rocks.  
But he stared all the same.

Ciel had never needed glasses, but he imagined that this was what it felt like to put them on for the first time. Only much, much stronger.

It was like he had spent his while life only seen things through photographs. The image colorless, blurred, and lacking in details.

Everything was so vivid.  
He could see the tiniest markings in the rocks.  
If he looked hard enough, he could see right down to their very molecular structure.

Oh and sounds.  
It was like deaf person hearing a cello played for the first time.  
He could hear everything, every vibration, and he wanted to cry from the intensity of it all.

A hand ran through his hair and even that was different.  
Like feeling actual skin instead of something through layers and layers of cloth.  
Though considering the social standards of his culture, that wasn't so far from the truth.

He looked up.  
Sebastian was kneeling at his side and oh no person had ever looked so beautiful.  
Ciel had always know that Sebastian was gorgeous, even from the day they met.  
But such beauty failed to even come close to what Ciel could see now.  
Because now Ciel could See him.

Something of this newfound wonderment must have been present on his face because Sebastian smiled.

"The changes to your senses will take some getting used to I'm afraid, young master," he said.

Ciel opened his mouth to speak and found air rushing into his nose and lungs.  
He didn't need it, but it was so full of amazing smells.  
He had no words for what any of them might be and he didn't care.  
But he did want one thing.

He pressed his nose into Sebastian's skin, inhaling his scent.  
There. That was his forever.

Sebastian very gently scooped him up.  
"Come here," he said. "Let me show you you."

He walked over to a full length mirror by the side of the cliff and set Ciel down in front of it.  
Ciel climbed to his feet, as wobbly as a spring colt.

A creature was standing inside the mirror and staring back at him.  
He had Ciel's basic measurements. Small stature. Slate colored hair. Huge eyes.  
And thankfully he was dressed in a simple chiton tunic of soft silver and not the something leathery and leecherous like Sebastian.

But as much as had stayed the same, an equal amount had changed.  
What had been pale skin was now as stark white as a corpse, shining like moonlight.  
The nails of both hands and feet were black and pointed.  
Ciel opened his mouth and could see that it was filled with sharp teeth like a tiny shark.

The blue of his eyes was gone now, full of fire and slitted pupils.  
The Seal was still there, just less visible.  
That made him happy.  
Another connection to Sebastian no one could ever take away.

But the biggest change of all were the enormous ebony wings on his back.

He experimentally lifted one. It took some effort. He would have to train those muscles.

But they were his. His wings. His body. For the first time in Ciel's life, he had a body that was completely and utterly his own.

He turned around to look at Sebastian and the other demons.  
"It's perfect," he whispered.

Sebastian picked him up and he nuzzled into him, his new demonic blood surging with joy in a way his human blood never had.

Adrammelech approached them, looking proud.  
"A fine young demon you make, Ciel" he said.

"Thank you, sir," Ciel replied. He meant it.

"You will need lots of rest after your Metamorphosis," he said. "And you will have to wear a fledgling form for a while once you enter Hell properly and begin your training. But this one will be your final."

Ciel didn't care. The temporary form could be anything. So long as he got to have this one in the end and Sebastian by his side.

Sebastian moved him to a more comfortable position.  
"Off we go then," he said.

He spread his wings and together they leaped into the world Below.


	3. Nest

The nest was soft and warm.

Ciel languidly stretched against the silken cloth, yawning.

He sniffed at the air, which was rich with the scent of smoke and storms. No sign of Sebastian yet. That was fine. Hunting did take time after all.

Like all crow nests, this one was littered with shiny objects.

Ciel glimpsed himself in what was probably once a beautifully crafted mirror.

A small, dog-like creature with black fur glanced back at him. His ears were floppy and his mouth was full of tiny fangs.

His paws were comically over-sized, like he hadn't grown into them yet and the nails were jet black.

His tail was long and fluffy, like that of a German Shepherd pup.

His eyes glowed eerily red with diamond pupils.

On the top of his head were two little horns like a baby goat.

Ciel's short muzzle bent down in a grimance.

Personally, he found his current form even more embarrassing than the one he had had as a human child.

His tongue was pink and instinctively lolled out of his mouth when he was hot, and his tail had the annoying habit of wagging whenever he was happy, shattering any possibility of masking his emotions.

Ciel grumbled and growled to himself.

A demon's form should be a tribute to the might of their minds and power.

He should be inspiring the horrified shrieks of his prey, or at least the frightened whimpers of other, lesser demons.

Instead the most common sound he heard were the squeals of delight by the neighborhood hordes of nearly naked succubi, rushing over to coo and gush at how adorable he was.

It was like Lizzy only ten times stronger. And involving a lot more cleavage.

Ciel scratched at his ears with a back paw.

Still it could be worse.

This form was flexible and allowed him to walk on two legs when he chose.

His front paws could function like hands so at least he could pick things up and write with a quill if needed.

And he would only be stuck like this for a few decades at most. A heartbeat by demon standards. If demons had had hearts to beat.

Ciel took another little look in the mirror.

He did like his eyes quite a bit.

Not having to wear the patch anymore was a great relief.

The Contract Seal could still be seen faintly over his right eye, a stark white against the flickering red underneath.

He liked that a lot. It marked him as different, even from the other fledglings.

The movement of air above him caught his attention.

Another demon flew overhead from a nearby nest.

Her feathers were bleached as bones and she had enormous jaws, like a shark.

But despite her ghastly appearance, Ciel remained relaxed. She was just their neighbor.

The other demon flapped her wings in a particular up and down motion.

Ciel had learned that this was a greeting that avian demons would often send to one another, like waving a hand.

He extended his own wings, which were small and bat-like and could be pulled within his back when not in use.

They were his absolute favorite part of this form.

Even with his rather canine shape he could still fly, just like Sebastian. Or attempt to anyway. He was still in lessons for that particular demon skill set.

Ciel mimicked the up and down motion with his wings back to her, a simple hello.

His neighbor smiled, showing off her giant teeth, and then she was off, down into the sprawling metropolis below.

Ciel peered over the side of the nest.

Even though he was higher up than even the tallest tower at his former estate, he could still see the demonic activity below him as if he were right there.

The city was bustling like it was every day.

Some areas looked like they could have been plucked right out of London, with shops and restaurants on streets of cobbled stone.

A pair of incubi, arm in arm and clutching shopping bags, walked into a pub.

  
Others neighborhoods were more like the Arab bazaars Ciel had read about in books, with outdoor tents and merchants calling out their wares.

A demon with a boar's head and bear's body was haggling with what looked like a pink cloud of sulfur over the price of a bag of magic herbs.

An open air pavilion marked the location of a spa and salon.

Only their mud baths were full of magma. It said so right on their signs out front. Today it seemed they were offering a special, with the usual magma soak time at half price.

Farther away from the hustle and bustle were suburban homes of varying sizes and architecture.

There were designs from every era in history and a few so alien Ciel frankly still didn't know what to make of them.

A handful of fledglings played in yards of asphodel and thorns, with a couple more climbing on rocks in the more arid public parks.

He recognized a few from his lessons and resisted the urge to growl at them, like a dog seeing another through a fence.

Looming above it all was an enormous castle, the pleasing curves of its construction radiating sensuality and passion down onto the landscape.

The home of Asmodeus and Lilith, the king and queen of the Lust Circle and Sebastian's parents.

Ciel glared at it.

He had met the king and queen briefly when he had first arrived.

They were ... affectionate to say the least.

Fussing and fawning over him and, to a lesser extent, Sebastian.

They had offered to reopen Sebastian's old rooms in the palace from childhood, even insisted upon it.

The thought had made Ciel's insides twist.

Thankfully Sebastian had politely declined his parents' invitation and instead found a lovely nest in the cliffs, large enough for two.

Ciel had breathed a sigh of relief at that.

If he were a kinder person he might say how much the king and queen loved their son and just wanted to be a part of his, and Ciel's, life.

But Ciel wasn't kind. He was selfish and petty and frequently jealous.

It's what made him an excellent demon and why his Metamorphosis had been so smooth.

The king and queen's palace reminded him too much of his old life and the complicated feelings he still had about it.

He didn't need any reminders of his past. Nor any of Sebastian's for that matter.

This was their new life. The one that they had chosen together.

Speaking of... Ciel's ears perked up at the sound of wing beats.

His nose caught the scent of warm metal and clean laundry and subtle spices.

A smile pulled on his lips despite himself. Sebastian was home.

Ciel scampered towards the back of the nest to give his companion plenty of space to land, along with the food he no doubt was bringing.

He was watched as Sebastian elegantly flew, sable wings gliding on warm updrafts from the nearby lakes of fire. He looked like a crow, except for the glowing red eyes and the fact that he was the size of a small elephant.

Clutched in his talons was a body. Ciel could smell the freshness of the kill. His mouth started to water.

Sebastian set the meal down on the nest, shifting from his crow form to one smaller and more humanoid.

The basic shape was identical to that of the one he had worn for nearly four years as a butler.

A tall and handsome young man with porcelain skin, dark hair, and slender features.

But there were a few important differences.

His mouth was wider and crueler, full of sharp teeth.

Huge wings sprouted from his back.

The perfectly manicured black nails were now long claws. And the Contract Seal, once as vivid as a freshly inked tattoo, had faded to a soft purple. Ciel loved seeing that best of all.

Sebastian pulled his wings flat against his back and leaned down toward the body. Ciel's tail wagged excitedly. This was his favorite part.

Sebastian opened his mouth and out fell a small, round, object about the size of a golf ball.

It was slightly translucent and glowing, the insides shifting and swirling with a multitude of colors like some kind of strange fish egg.

A human soul.

Ciel grabbed it greedily with his paws and shoved it into his mouth.

At first, the idea of eating regurgitated food like a baby bird had been revolting to Ciel.

He was a former Earl. He had standards.

But after a while practicality and hunger had won out. He was too little to go with Sebastian to hunt on the Surface and souls did not last long once removed from a vessel.

Ciel bit down, popping the soul open like a sugary sweet and sending gelatinous fluid down his throat. The taste reminded him of a rich beef stew, like the kind he used to eat on cold winter nights in the manor.

Ciel thrummed in satisfaction. Nothing better.

It was only now that he even looked at the body before him.

The man appeared to had been in his mid-30s, weedy and scrawny like a weasel.

His clothing suggested he had been living somewhere in the southwestern Americas.

A few flashes from the soul told Ciel that he had been a small time criminal. Murders and arson mainly. Violent and antisocial since early childhood.

Good.

Scumbags were easy targets and excellent for a short hunt.

Intelligent humans with complex morals were better for Contracts. Something to play with before one ate.

Or at least that's what Sebastian said.

Ciel was much too young to form any Contracts of his own and his tastes were not nearly refined enough yet to want to.

Ciel dove onto the carcass like a miniature hyena, his claws ripping and tearing with glee.

Gore splattered and soaked into his fur like wet red paint.

It would have appalled his former relatives to see him eat like such a savage but he didn't care.

He was a demon now. And he was hungry.

Ciel bite down on a bone, the hard crunch satisfying against his teeth.

He grabbed the nearest organ, the liver it looked like, and swallowed it whole. He wrapped the multitude of intestines around his paws and slurped, like pasta.

It wasn't until the body was gone, the only evidence left being a large rusting stain on the nest's cloth base, that Ciel realized he had forgotten to even ask Sebastian if he had wanted any of this meal.

He looked up. The former butler was only half paying attention to him, sitting at the other end of the nest and preening his feathers. He smiled at his charge.

  
"Don't worry," he said. "This man actually had a partner in crime. I had plenty to eat."

A part of Ciel was relieved but another part forced a pout.

"You ate before me?" he said, petulant as the child he still was. Sebastian just smirked.

"Well it was only to ensure that I had the energy to return to my little lord." His smirk widened meanly. "Would the young master have preferred that I collapse from hunger halfway home?"

Ciel snorted.

Bastard.

Sebastian's days of intentional starvation were long behind him.

Well at least until Ciel was old enough to hunt on his own or make Contracts.

Like any good caregiver, Sebastian ate what his little one ate.

Sebastian opened his arms and Ciel padded over to him, feeling full and more than a little sleepy.

Sebastian ran long, spidery fingers through fluffy black fur.

"You are filthy," he said without any trace of judgement.

A serpentine tongue twisted out from behind his lips, lapping at the still wet blood.

Ciel squirmed in his embrace. "Oh get off you," he said, wiggling away. "I can get my own bath." Such would not have been true of his previous life but that hardly mattered now.

Ciel hopped out of the nest to a nearby ledge and into a small cave in the rock face.

Inside, there was a hot spring about the width and depth of his old bathtub. But as Ciel was now only about a third of his former size, which had already been admittedly diminutive, it might as well have been a private pool.

Ciel wadded in, paddling about in the warm water and letting the minerals eat away the goop in his fur.

He dunked his head a few times to ensure cleanliness, but none extra. Those floppy ears had a tendency to get water in them and then they would itch.

When successfully cleaned up he climbed back out and shook himself, spraying water everywhere.

He returned to the nest, where Sebastian was curled up in a pile of pillows and blankets. He lifted up a wing and Ciel darted underneath it, cuddling against the warm body and soft feathers.

Shortly after taking this form, Ciel had discovered that when he was feeling content and happy and, dare he say, loved, he would purr.

Like a little kitten.

He strongly suspected it was what had allowed Sebastian to overlook his puppy-like appearance.

That and he did not bark and the bottoms of his paws had very squishy pink pads. Sebastian called them toe beans and Ciel would occasionally let him play with them, so long as he got some good head scratches out of it.

Ciel yawned once more.

Adult demons did not need sleep, but fledglings did. At least a little.

And especially ones who had recently been human.

The common metaphor compared it to just having undergone extensive surgery and needing to re-cooperate.

Sebastian was so comfortable anyway.

Ciel stretched, little claws momentarily extending, and settled into the silken sheets.

Sebastian held him close, murmuring softly.

Ciel's last thoughts before drifting off were full of the gentle breathing.


End file.
